My friend Doug introduced me to this band during a recent LEGO building session (LEGO is cool, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. We were working on this Great Wall of China display for the Cranberry Library.) Sorry, that's a bit of a non sequitur, but it's a true story. Anyway, the band plays an incredible Americana style of music, of which this song is the archetype. Simple, yet poignant, lyrics sung by a fantastic vocalist over beautiful instrumentation evocative of the heartland come together for a tune that will keep you hitting repeat. The band admits to being influenced by Aaron Copland, and if you're familiar with his work you'll hear the similarities... hmm, I should post some Copland sometime... at any rate, have a listen:
If you like this track, you can find a different song on the band's website, available for free download (yeah, sorry, bait and switch... that song is also good but I felt like posting this one.) "A man is walking on the highway
I found this band on thesixtyone the other day (a site worth checking out - fun way to discover new tunes). They're an instrumental outfit from Texas, named after a small town quite a ways away from the bigger cities. Their sound, however, is much larger than their namesake.
Balmorhea (pronounced Bal-moor-ay) bring lush orchestration and soaring melodies, reminiscent of carefree summer days. This track features a backbone of piano with strings along for the ride. A subtle guitar breakdown laced with ethereal vocal harmonies gives you a breather before the climax, when the pace picks up and claps join the strings and vocals in a manner reminiscent of The David Wax Museum. This type of tune could easily be part of a movie soundtrack, but stands alone as well:
Yet another ridiculously fun music video from OK Go. This one takes a different approach on the Rube Goldberg theme of the This Too Shall Pass video - now it's an electric car and some pretty good timing on a piano-laced desert stunt track:
Oh yeah, and here's the album version, where the visuals aren't nearly as impressive but the audio is a little clearer... well actually it's pretty distorted guitar, but.... yeah.
"So I been sitting around, wasting my time
wondering what you been doing
aw, and it ain't real forgiving, it ain't real forgiving
sitting here picturing someone else living..."
PS - you can download the "video version" (car version) of the song on the band's facebook page.
My friend Jake just moved to the Pacific Northwest. I found out about Big Hurry thanks to Jake. Found out about Liisten.com thanks to Big Hurry. Found out about Ryan McAllister thanks to Liisten.com. Ryan McAllister is from Vancouver. Vancouver is a city in the Pacific Northwest. Six degrees of Kevin Bacon, if you will.
After listening to McAllister's album a few times, this track seems to jump out at me the most. It speaks of the fleeting nature of life and the situations we each face here on Earth. Some of us wander, some of us stay more or less in one place; some of us shine brightly, some flicker softly. Yet all of us are allotted only so many days... we each have a path to travel, and it's a glorious adventure along the way.
So we're going a bit sentimental tonight. This song peaked at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1991 (or so). My elementary school choir sang it. It's quintessential early-90s pop. MWS was my favorite artist at the time (hmm, I already told you that, if you've been reading for a while).
The reason I'm using one of Smith's songs tonight is that I'm in his hometown of Kenova, WV (by the way, it's so named because it's at the juncture of KEN(tucky)-O(hio)-(West) V(irgini)A. Slick, huh? But anyway, my company has our manufacturing plant in Kenova, so I've been hanging out in a hot, humid warehouse near the Dreamland Pool, and eating lunch at Griffith & Feil Soda Fountain / Pharmacy. We sat at a table with Smith's photo next to it:
So yeah, kinda cool for me to be in the hometown of a musical hero of mine. Small town America at its finest. And here's the song; it's kind of sappy, but it expresses the feelings of a young person with a whole life ahead, who's not quite sure what to do with it just yet, so it still rings true for me to this day.
"If there are millions down on their knees;
among the many,
can you still hear me?
Hear me asking,
'Where do I belong?'
Is there a vision
that I can call my own?"
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Top Secret BONUS FOOTAGE:
Holy wow, thanks to the miracle of YouTube "related videos", I just discovered that MWS teamed up with the Jonas Brothers on this song at a concert in Nashville a couple years ago. You know, if you're into that sort of thing...
(those JoBros play mean shakers, no? lol... the internets are wonderful things!)
